All posts by Nathan

personal development

This Might Not Work

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When was the last time you said to yourself, “This might not work,” then followed it up with “Screw it, I’m gonna try it anyway.”

Usually we think, “This might not work,” and walk away.  It’s easy to believe that there’s little value in doing something that’s going to end up a mess.

That’s wrong.  Failed reps make you stronger.  Puzzles you can’t solve right away can make you smarter.

Find something that you may not be able to do, take a deep breath, mutter “This might not work,” and hit it head-on.

You’ll surprise yourself.

learning, personal development

Ditch the Highlighter

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If you’re the type that reads with a highlighter, using it every few minutes to mark something striking or brilliant before plowing on only to forget it later, try this instead:

As you’re reading, if you come across something that seems significant, close the book and put it down.  Go for a walk and turn the idea over inside your head.  Digest it.  Reframe it.  Absorb it.

Once you’ve explored it thoroughly, then pick the book back up and continue.

Highlight all you want, but slow down and reflect on those gems before moving on.

personal development

See Things As They Are

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Sometimes it seems as if the world is just deliberately trying to piss you off.

Assholes are everywhere.  Events conspire to frustrate you.  Even inanimate objects like your phone seem to be deliberately driving you crazy.

To not only survive, but thrive at such times, you must first realize that the key word in the above paragraph is seems.  People and inanimate objects do in fact exist, and events do occur.  But how they affect you has more to do with your opinion of them than how they actually are.

As the Roman Emperor, Stoic philosopher, and owner of a jealousy-inducing head of hair Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations:

“Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.”  Take away the complaint “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away.

If you think something is causing you pain, you’re probably wrong.  The way you’re thinking about it is what’s causing pain.

Think back to the last time something pissed you off so badly that you spent the better part of the day being angry.  Which was worse?  The thing that pissed you off, or spending the day feeling that way?

For the next few days, watch for anything causing you pain or aggravation.  When you feel it coming on, stop.  Take a step back and try to see things for what they really are.

Is that person really trying to hurt you, or are they just looking out for themselves, oblivious to any effect on you?  Is the ding in your car that’s going to cost $500 to fix really worth anguish and soaring blood pressure?  Is your 3-year-old really trying to drive you crazy, or is she just learning about cause and effect?

Ask yourself if it’s really worth causing yourself pain because someone was rude to you.  Or cut you off on the highway.  Or insulted you on social media.  Or blew you off for lunch.

See things as they really are, not as how you perceive them.

entrepreneurship

Three Key Qualities of a Good Tech Hire

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In a small, growth-minded company, there are three key qualities to look for in a “tech” hire:

  1. Technology skills – Duh.  This isn’t necessarily the most important quality, but naturally it’s up there.  No tech skills, no tech hire.  What we’re looking for here isn’t gobs and gobs of experience, but fluency in at least one area (e.g. C++, network administration, database administration, image processing, etc), the ability to identify and solve problems, and the capacity to acquire deep knowledge quickly.
  2. People skills – Engineers with no people skills are so common they’re cliché.  They can be excellent precision instruments, but in a fast-paced, growth-focused environment they can be deadly.  Technical staff that work so well with others that they make them better at their jobs aren’t just employees, they’re force multipliers.
  3. Business awareness – It’s very easy to find a geek who’s thrilled about building cool stuff regardless of whether or not your business needs it.  Avoid them or you will be tearing your hair, rending your clothes, and wishing you were folding denim at The Gap.  Experienced technologists with good business sense know how to deploy technology to support the business.  Cost/value calculations are second nature to them, and their solutions to problems just make sense.

Finding someone with all of the above is difficult, but well worth the effort.  When you do, grab them, share your vision with them, and keep them close.

discipline, learning

Going Deep

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What is a “Deep Dive”?  You’ve probably heard the term before, but what exactly does it mean?

It means doing something that very few people can.  It means spending (depending on the complexity of the subject) hours, weeks, months, or even years exploring something very specific.

And we’re not talking about reading.  Reading is useful but it can easily become a crutch.  In order to truly learn you have to execute.

The Deep Dive is difficult.  Most people start digging into a subject, hit some rocks right away, and quit.  Do this for a handful of subjects and you’ll be like most people: a source of “mile wide, inch deep” knowledge.

The opposite, “inch wide, mile deep” knowledge, is well worth the work.  It’s rare and extremely valuable.  In many cases you can contribute something entirely new to a field, which is incredibly rewarding.  And the process changes you, endowing you with patience, discipline, analytical skills, and confidence that most people lack.

It’s tough to dig deeper.  And in many cases, it seems like an inch deep truly is the bottom.

But it isn’t.  If you sit in front of a seemingly impenetrable wall long enough, fissures will eventually begin to appear.  After hours, days, or weeks of probing, you will find a way through where others could not.

So the next time you tackle a subject or a problem, work on it until you think you can go no further.  Then continue to hammer away at it, breaking down its resistance until it gives up its secrets.

Don’t stop until it does.

personal development

Grabbing Your Audience With Two Hands

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Public speaking is hard.  Yes, it can be terrifying, but it’s also very difficult.

One of the critical (and well-known) keys to being a good public speaker is:  know your material.

Know it cold, inside and out, backwards and forwards so that you can recite it while drunk and hung upside down from a crawler crane.  You should be so familiar with your material that you own it.

“Well, duh,” you think to yourself. “Obviously if I’m going to tell an audience something I need to know it.”

Right.  But it’s not only important to not screw up your story, or presentation, or whatever it is you’re doing.  Knowing your material essential to entertaining your audience.

Why?

Telling us something you don’t know well isn’t interesting because we’re watching you remember words.  It’s about as gripping as you reading a phone book, but without the phone book right in front of you.

I’d rather watch one wrestler.

When you know your material well, however, you have an opportunity to do something magical.  If you know it so well that you don’t have to remember it, we can actually watch you have an experience.

That’s what’s interesting.  No matter what the material is, if you experience it vividly, we’ll be enthralled.

You reliving a personal story is interesting.  You digging into the yoga position you’re teaching is interesting.  You being deeply touched by a historical event is interesting.

You musing over names in the phone book is interesting.  No kidding, it really is.  Watching a human being go through an experience is fascinating.

Know your material so well that instead of remembering it, you can live it.

And we’ll be eating out of your hand.

discipline, personal development

The Art of Mountain-Moving

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What kind of commitment is required to move a mountain?

Let’s take Joe.  He’s committed to moving the sucker, so he wakes up, checks his email, rolls up his sleeves, moves a few rocks, hops online to check the news, moves a few more rocks, has lunch and reads a couple of articles on solar power and politics while he eats, moves a few more rocks, heads to his 5:30 cooking class, etc…..

Then there’s Joanne.  She wakes up and attacks the mountain.  She moves rocks until she has to stop for lunch.  While she’s eating she runs through the move in her head, playing out all the possible problems she might encounter and sketching out solutions.  After her meal she gets right back to moving the rocks and doesn’t stop until well after dark.  At dinner she opens her laptop and reads up on the latest rock-moving technology, takes some notes for the next day, then collapses into bed.

Who are you going to put your money on?

Joanne’s focus is going to get her to the finish line first.  Her social life is going to suck and she’s not going to be very well-versed on anything other than mountain-moving, but she will reach her goal long before Joe does, if he even gets there at all.

To do something big and audacious you must focus on that thing and nothing else.  Every day, every thought must be about your task.  No hobbies, no outside entertainment, nothing.  Distractions will slow you down.

If you’re shaking your head and thinking, “That’s a crappy way to live life,” you’re right.  No one can be happy living that way their entire life.

But it’s certainly something you can do for a couple of weeks.  Or months.  Or a year.

How long can you work on your goal as if nothing else exists?  How long can you shut out distractions and keep plunging ahead like your hair is on fire?

Then take a break, take some time to appreciate your accomplishment or evaluate your failure for future success, and begin again.

Time is short.  What will you use it for?

discipline, personal development

There Are Worse Things Than Pain

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Sometimes pain isn’t the worst thing you can endure.

It can be worse – much worse – to sit around wondering if you could have done something special if you’d only pushed through the pain.

Pain is discomfort.  Regret, on the other hand, is an ever-present agony that takes a long, long time to go away.

Register the pain for what it is and drive out regret.

learning

Not As Bad As It Sounds

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We’ve all been trained to expect scarcity.  It’s built into our lives.  Water will become scarce.  Food is scarce.  Oil is scarce.

“Be afraid.  Everything is running out.”

But what if that’s not true?  What if technology is creating a world in which our most precious resources are going to become, for all reasonable purposes, unlimited?

Water purifying technology is becoming more and more affordable and easily deployable.  Food – be it meats, grains, vegetables, etc – can now be produced in so many new and sustainable ways that it’s dizzying.  Energy is getting cheaper every day, and solar technology in particular is improving at an ever faster rate.

This doesn’t mean that we can now throw a party and forget about conservation.  But you can tune out the chorus of “Everything is running out!” repeated over and over by those who profit from your fear.

Things are getting better.  We can solve this.

personal development

Follow the Rabbit

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When toddlers want to do something they don’t worry about what someone else thinks, or whether the outcome is worthwhile, or whether it even makes sense.

Something tickles their curiosity and they do it.  Something looks fun and they do it.

Follow the rabbit where it goes.  See what happens.